The unions told the Government that they would not be party to any national agreement unless the Prices and Incomes Bill were withdrawn. They were determined, and we in the Labour Party on their behalf were determined, that there should be free collective bargaining and that there should be no attempt to bargain at gunpoint. That was exactly what was attempted by the Minister for Finance. The Taoiseach is a shrewder politician than the Minister for Finance. He saw that when he was guided by the Minister for Finance he had made a few mistakes and he decided that the "bull in the china shop" antics of the Minister for Finance would not work. He decided, firstly, that they would back down on the question of what they would allow by way of increase and secondly, he has admitted that they will withdraw the Bill because he knows that if we are to have proper democracy, proper industrial relations, we must have free collective bargaining.
I was concerned at the Taoiseach's statement the week before last. He said there was a threat of a plot and unless this threat were removed he would introduce Part 2 of the Offences Against the State Act. This is another attempt by the Fianna Fáil administration to bring in dictatorial measures. If this were allowed and if we were to sit down and not raise our voices in protest against this we would see freedom lost in this country. We would see, in fact, what is happening in the Communist countries of Europe happening here with freedom of speech abolished.
I read Part 2 of this Act because when it was introduced in 1940 I knew nothing about it or its significance or its implications. I saw when I read it that any Minister can have a person arrested and interned if, in his opinion, that person has said anything that he thinks is a breach of the peace. Any Minister can do this. He need not consult his colleagues. He does not have to consult the Taoiseach. There is no one excluded from this. If I said anything outside against the Minister for Local Government he, if this were brought in, could have me interned without trial.
This is what this Government wanted to re-introduce and the Taoiseach was annoyed because we raised our voices in protest against it. He refused point blank to have a debate on it despite the fact that we thought it was a definite matter of urgent public importance. His reply to Private Notice Questions is interesting. I quote from Volume 250 of the Official Report, column 486. When asked among other things why he did not make a statement in the Dáil on the matter, why he waited until the Friday to make it, he said:
While there is no obligation on the Government to make in the Dail a statement such as that referred to in the questions, it was hoped to do so last Thursday—
This is important.
—but this did not prove possible because of the need to give the matter careful and extended consideration and to take appropriate action quickly.
To take appropriate action quickly. He knew it before the Thursday. He said he would have made a statement on the Thursday but he had to take appropriate action quickly. The action he took was on the Friday. There is something wrong in the Taoiseach's statement. I should like the Taoiseach to explain that because there is a contradiction there. The Taoiseach, in some way or other, was not telling the truth. The Taoiseach has a duty to explain this. He had to take appropriate action quickly and he did not do it until the Friday. We know that Mr. Boland, an ex-Minister, had said that the Special Branch were dreaming up plots to justify their existence. This was a former senior member of the Government who said this.
The Taoiseach did not explain. He said there was a threat and added: "if this threat was not removed..." What does he mean by that? I am reminded of Hitler's days in the 1930's which I read about in The Rise and Fall of the Third Reich and the way they dreamed up plots to justify taking dictatorial action and opening up concentration camps. There is a very real danger that the Taoiseach will introduce this measure. It is more than likely that he will bring it in as soon as the Dail adjourns for the Christmas Recess. He can try to muster public opinion in his favour by saying we have had bank robberies and killings. They have had bank robberies in England but they have a police force to tackle them. We did not see Britain bringing in Special Powers Acts. We did not see internments up North when they had tremendous trouble last year. They had justification, if anyone had, with all the trouble that prevailed up North, but they did not bring this in. Still we, who condemn them, are permitting the Taoiseach to bring this in.